Data Center Site Selection in Missouri

Gov. Mike Kehoe signed Senate Bill 4 on April 9, 2025.² Among other things, it requires the large investor-owned utilities to set up special tariffs for customers above 100 MW of peak demand, so that the cost of serving them is not shifted onto residential and commercial customers.²¹ As of April 2026, two of the three regulated electric utilities, Ameren Missouri and Evergy, had approved large-load tariffs, and Liberty Utilities’ case was still in progress.¹

On November 24, 2025, the Public Service Commission (PSC) approved a unanimous settlement signed by Google, Ameren Missouri, Evergy Metro, Evergy Missouri West and others.² It set minimum service contracts of 12 to 17 years, collateral equal to two years of minimum bills and an 80% minimum monthly demand charge.² Ameren’s tariff applies to customers using 75 MW or more and includes early exit fees and two years’ notice to terminate or reduce contracted load.⁷ The PSC also describes “cost stabilization” recovery so the utility can collect all costs of serving large loads, and optional clean energy programs that the large customer funds itself.¹

For a land seller or developer, the effect is that a Missouri power commitment now arrives with a long, take-or-pay style obligation. Model the minimum bill at the full contracted load, not the first phase, and align the ramp schedule with realistic construction timing. Our large-load tariffs guide walks through the mechanics.

Missouri straddles two regional grids. Ameren Missouri, which serves the St. Louis region and eastern Missouri, plans transmission within MISO; in January 2025 MISO selected Ameren to build several transmission projects in Missouri and Illinois worth about $1.3 billion.³ Evergy, which serves the Kansas City area on both sides of the state line, is a member of the Southwest Power Pool.⁴ Liberty Utilities is the state’s third regulated electric utility.¹

Ameren’s pipeline is large relative to its system. In February 2026 it reported binding electric agreements with multiple data centers totaling 2.2 GW, with customer names and locations kept confidential.⁸ Large-load customers may not receive rate discounts from Ameren and must pay their own connection costs.⁸ By its first-quarter 2026 call, Ameren described 3.4 GW of Missouri construction agreements and several more gigawatts at the engineering study stage.⁹

Generation is the constraint behind these numbers. Missouri had the fourth-highest share of in-state generation from coal in 2024, and renewables supplied about 13% of generation.¹³ New gas, renewables and storage take years to permit and build, so a site’s energization date depends on the utility’s resource plan as much as on the nearest substation. See our MISO and SPP guides for the regional rules.

Kansas City is Missouri’s most established hyperscale market. Meta announced a data center of nearly 1 million square feet in the Golden Plains Technology Park, spanning Platte and Clay counties, with planned spending of more than $800 million.¹⁴ Meta said it had worked with Evergy on a new market-based tariff to let it and other customers contract for new renewable energy.¹⁴

In February 2026 Google confirmed it was behind Project Mica, a roughly 500-acre campus in the Northland near I-435 and Highway 169, after Port KC authorized up to $10 billion in revenue bonds for the project.¹⁰ Google said it would cover the campus’s full energy costs, and Evergy said the project will take service under its large-load tariff.¹⁰ Bond financing through a port or development authority is usually paired with negotiated tax abatements, and those terms are set project by project, so treat them as deal terms to confirm rather than assumptions. Our guide to property taxes on data center projects covers how abatements are usually structured.

The Kansas City market spans the state line, and Kansas has its own utility rules and incentives. Compare both sides with our Kansas guide before choosing a parcel near the line.

The St. Louis region shows both the demand and the friction. In August 2025, after the developer behind a proposed data center in St. Charles withdrew its application, the city council voted unanimously for a one-year moratorium on new or expanded data center applications.¹² Residents had raised concerns about noise, power use, environmental impact and the site’s proximity to homes and the city’s water source.¹² Our guide to moratoriums and local restrictions explains how these pauses usually play out.

Large campuses are moving to rural counties with land and transmission. In May 2026 Google announced a $15 billion Missouri investment centered on a 934-acre site in New Florence in Montgomery County, developed by Related Digital and targeting 1.2 GW.¹¹ Google said it would work with Evergy to bring a capacity commitment framework to Missouri so that large users pay for their own power needs.¹¹

Rural sites trade easy land for longer lead times on transmission, water and fiber, and they often sit in counties without a data center zoning category. Our comparison of near-metro and remote power-rich sites covers the trade-off, and the floodplain guide is worth reading for river-bottom parcels along the Missouri and Mississippi.

Missouri’s exemption dates to Senate Bill 149, passed in 2015, which created state and local sales and use tax exemptions for qualifying data storage center projects.⁵ For a new facility, the project must commit to at least $25 million of capital investment within 36 months of conditional approval and create at least 10 new jobs paying 150% of the county average wage in that period; certified projects can receive the exemption for up to 15 years, as negotiated with the Department of Economic Development (DED).⁶ Expansions need at least $5 million of net new investment within 12 months and five new jobs, for up to 10 years.⁶

The exemption covers machinery, equipment and computers, electricity, gas, water and other utilities including telecommunications, and construction materials for the facility.⁶ As of March 2026, 13 projects had been approved.¹⁵

DED limits eligibility to taxpayers primarily engaged in data processing and hosting (NAICS 518210) or internet publishing and web search portals (NAICS 519130), and recipients sign repayment agreements and are subject to audits.¹⁶⁶ Compare Missouri with its neighbors in our sales tax exemptions by state guide.

1. 01Confirm the serving utility (Ameren Missouri, Evergy, Liberty, a municipal utility or a co-op) and its wholesale market.
2. 02Request the large-load tariff and model the 80% minimum demand charge, contract term and collateral at full load.
3. 03Ask the utility where new generation and transmission sit in its plan relative to your ramp.
4. 04Check city and county rules early, including any pending moratorium or new data center ordinance.
5. 05Screen floodplain, karst and water supply, especially near the major rivers.
6. 06Map the DED exemption timeline against your investment and hiring schedule.

The choice between the two sides of the state often comes down to the utility rather than the land. An Ameren site joins a queue that already holds gigawatts of signed and pending agreements, while an Evergy site sits in SPP with a different study process; both now carry the same SB 4 style minimum-bill risk.⁹² Ask each utility for a written path to service before paying for a long option.

Our site due diligence checklist and utility will-serve letter guide expand on these steps. If you have Missouri land and want an independent read on power, zoning and buildability, get a site reviewed.